The typical water softening system known in the prior art treats the water by removing calcium, magnesium and any of the hardness cations that can be exchanged for sodium in an ion exchange process. Where prior systems provided an additional filtering function it was necessary to utilize two tanks, one containing a filter substance and a separate tank containing an ion exchange material and it was necessary to resort to a system of exchanging such tanks by delivering one tank for the oxidizing process and a separate tank for the softening operation. Such tanks are carried in and out of homes, or buildings, and regenerated at a central shop in mass quantities.